{"id":1331,"date":"2018-03-31T22:08:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-31T16:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2018-04-05T23:56:55","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T18:26:55","slug":"news-ceylon-1942","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/news-ceylon-1942\/","title":{"rendered":"News from Ceylon: 1942"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>TEXT AND PHOTOS\u00a0BY AMIT PALLATH<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Thrissur, Kerala, India<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">The plantations in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) were cultivated by the British using Indian hands.\u2028 During the early 20th century, employment opportunities were abundant for south Indians. They were instrumental in the establishment of the tea, rubber, coffee and coconut\u2028 plantations\u00a0in the \u2028island nation.\u00a0<\/span><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My grandfather, or <em>achachan<\/em>, as he is fondly referred to by the family in Malayalam, joined this influx of migrant workers in his early twenties. He \u2028stayed and worked in Ceylon for almost 7-8 years sending money back home to support his family. This letter, written on 28 October, 1942 details him asking his relatives in Thrissur, Kerala about the happenings and whereabouts of his \u2028brethren. At that time, letters took over a week to reach his hometown and communication \u2028was nowhere as frequent as in today&#8217;s day and age.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-1331 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-large'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/news-ceylon-1942\/page1\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"629\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page1-629x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"The letter written by V.M. Damodaran, Amit Pallath&#039;s maternal grandfather.\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-1347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page1-629x1024.jpg 629w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page1-369x600.jpg 369w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page1-768x1250.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-1347'>\n\t\t\t\tThe letter written by V.M. Damodaran, Amit Pallath&#8217;s maternal grandfather.\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/news-ceylon-1942\/page2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"629\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page2-629x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"It is is addressed to V.M. Damodaran&#039;s brother-in-law&#039;s elder brother.\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-1346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page2-629x1024.jpg 629w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page2-369x600.jpg 369w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page2-768x1250.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-1346'>\n\t\t\t\tIt is is addressed to V.M. Damodaran&#8217;s brother-in-law&#8217;s elder brother.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My <em>nani<\/em> (maternal grandmother)\u00a0passed away recently and the entire family visited our native village in Thrissur for the final rites. It was a\u2028 rare occasion when all of us were present. My <em>chechi-amma<\/em> (mother&#8217;s sister) had safely preserved our family&#8217;s photographs for all these years and she showed them to us then. Wanting to make digital copies of them, I was rummaging through the pile and chanced upon this old letter. The four sheets\u2028 of paper were safely preserved in a transparent plastic folder.\u2028 The letter, written before <em>achachan<\/em> was married, speaks mainly of family matters and describes his life in erstwhile Ceylon. It is addressed to my grandfather&#8217;s brother-in- law&#8217;s elder brother who was an authority in the town \u2028back home and a caretaker of the family.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-1331 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-large'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/news-ceylon-1942\/page3\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"582\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page3-582x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"The letter was written on 28 October, 1942.\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-1348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page3-582x1024.jpg 582w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page3-341x600.jpg 341w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page3-768x1351.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 582px) 100vw, 582px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-1348'>\n\t\t\t\tThe letter was written on 28 October, 1942.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/news-ceylon-1942\/page4\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"589\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page4-589x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"It was sent from Ceylon to Thrissur.\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-1349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page4-589x1024.jpg 589w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page4-345x600.jpg 345w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Page4-768x1336.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 589px) 100vw, 589px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-1349'>\n\t\t\t\tIt was sent from Ceylon to Thrissur.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The letter also highlights the struggles and hardship felt during the British rule. &#8220;Food is rationed and I receive 3\u00a0<i>naazhi<\/i>\u00a0a week.&#8221;\u00a0<i>Naazhi<\/i>\u00a0is the smallest of the measuring vessels associated with the rice-paddy system\u00a0 in Kerala. 1\u00a0<i>Naazhi<\/i>\u00a0 is around 200 grams. He has also asked\u00a0whether his brother has received the 55\u00a0<i>rupiah<\/i>\u00a0money order he had sent to buy some land back home. <em>Achachan<\/em> was surviving on a meagre salary of 150\u00a0<i>rupiah<\/i>\u00a0for 5 months and was requesting his elders to not send any new kids to work there.\u00a0He specifically mentions &#8220;don&#8217;t send his relative Govindankutty as he himself\u00a0 is surviving on only one meal a day&#8221;. The header contains his name, V.M. Damodaran and his contact address, 1\/64 Captain&#8217;s Garden, Colombo. It also has <em>\u2018Vandematharam\u2019\u00a0<\/em>printed on it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Around the time when Nehru was heralding an independent India with his Tryst with Destiny speech, my <em>achachan<\/em> was awaiting the return of his elder brother from Kuwait. It was very\u2028 common for the male members in the family to go abroad or to other states to earn a livelihood.\u2028 The two brothers would be meeting after a long time. Unfortunately, the ship from Iraq got delayed. As the final call for my grandfather&#8217;s ship to Ceylon was being announced, he decided against joining his \u2028colleagues. He would rather have the warm embrace of his brother. This led to him quitting his\u2028 job at the plantation and staying back in Kerala.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Achachan<\/em> brought up a family of nine children which included six daughters. The women of the family remember him as a person quite ahead of his time, as my grandfather was very insistent on getting\u2028 his daughters the best education and making them financially independent. I am referring to \u2028the 1950s here when the social climate wasn\u2019t exactly conducive to his thought process.\u2028 But thankfully, his strong work ethic passed on to his progeny and ensured they became doctor, engineers and\u2028 teachers.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1403\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1403\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1403 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG-20180402-WA0041-1024x678.jpg\" alt=\"Achachan with his children at his youngest son's wedding in 1996.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"678\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG-20180402-WA0041-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG-20180402-WA0041-600x398.jpg 600w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG-20180402-WA0041-768x509.jpg 768w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG-20180402-WA0041.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1403\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Achachan with his children at his youngest son&#8217;s wedding in 1996.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">An atheist and a Gandhian, who had his own set of morals and way of life, <em>achachan<\/em> wholeheartedly accepted an inter-faith marriage in his family. He paved the way for the future\u2028 generations and was always the bulwark of the family. Even at the ripe old age of 87, I remember him \u2028tending to his <em>paramb<\/em> (field) and keeping things in order. Before the first rays of the sun hit the \u2028field or the morning rooster welcomes the day, he would be on his feet carrying his <em>kaikottu<\/em> \u2028(spade) to get to work. This is how he started his day, by offering prayers to the soil which \u2028gave him his livelihood. His God resided in his <em>paramb<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When I came across the letter it felt like I was holding a piece of history. A fragment from a bygone era, a time before any of the living members of \u2028my family were even born. My cousins and I have made a concerted effort to make a digital copy of all the old photographs as I don&#8217;t\u2028 want them to be lost with the older generation. I want such pieces of history to get recorded somewhere and I hope this is just the beginning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This letter dated 28 October, 1942 made its way from Ceylon to Thrissur. It is written by my grandfather and speaks mainly of family matters and describes his life in Ceylon. My nanaji, like many other migrant workers, stayed and worked at the plantations for 7-8 years to support his family. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[29,71,18,114,62,28,113],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1414,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions\/1414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}